30 REPORT — 1867. 



Leetui-e Hall, nothing of the kind has presented itself in the other branches 

 of the Ca-sern which the Committee have yet investigated. 



In the Lecture Hall, as -well as in the immediately adjacent part of the 

 Great Chamber, a series of subterranean tunnels have occasionally been broken 

 into by the workmen. They are more or less eylinrbical, sensibly horizontal, 

 and except in rare cases, upwards of 4 feet below the iipper surface of the 

 Cave-earth. Their size appears pretty uniform, and is such as would allow 

 a fox, or perhaps a badger, to turn in them. Mr. M'Enery, who mentions 

 them, thinks, and with much probability, that they are " Fox-earths." 



Fragments of bui-nt bone have been found, here and there, in the Cave- 

 earth in every chamber and gaUery. 



No other branch of the Cavern has proved to be quite so rich in bones as the 

 Great Chamber, the larger portion of which was explored in 1865, and of 

 which the particulars were given in the Eeport presented that year. Never- 

 theless, a very large number of teeth and other remains of the ordinary cave 

 mammals have been exhumed from the Eed loam during the last twelve 

 months. It may be doubted, however, whether any important additions have 

 been made to the list of animals given in the two previous Eeports. As a 

 provisional statement, the mammals represented by the vast collection which 

 has now been made, may be still said to be the Cave-bear, Cave-lion, Cave- 

 hycena. Fox, Horse (probably more than one species). Ox, several species of 

 Deer, the tichorhine Ehinoceros, Mammoth, and Badger. The condition of the 

 bones is the same as that of those described in the previous Eeports. Many of 

 them are of an almost chalk-like whiteness, whilst others are discolored ; some 

 are more or less coated with films of stalagmite ; many are merely fragments 

 or splinters ; a considerable number have been gnawed ; those found imme- 

 diately imder heavy blocks of limestone are crushed; several are split longi- 

 tudinally in such a manner as to betoken human agency ; they are all cha- 

 racterized by a specific gravity greater than that of the bones found in the 

 Black Mould overlying the Stalagmitic Floor ; on the tongue being apphed to 

 them, they all more or less adhere to it ; and in no instance have the elements 

 of an entire skeleton, or anything approaching it, been found together. It is 

 still true that, so far as is laiown, no bone or tooth of Machairodus, Hippopo- 

 tamus, or Man has yet been found in the Cave-earth. 



The Eed earth has also yielded a considerable number of chips and flakes 

 of flint diu-ing the last twelve months. The aggregate from the four foot- 

 levels amounts to 238 specimens, which were thus distributed : 120 in the 

 first foot-level, 53 in the second, 36 in the third, and 29 in the fourth or low- 

 est. There are not amongst them any ovate implements, nor can the series 

 as a whole, perhaps, be regarded as quite equal in interest to those which were 

 described in the Eeports of 1865 and 1866. The artificially wrought flints, 

 inclusive of chips and flakes, which have been found in the Cavern during 

 the last twelve months, form a total of 834 ; =220 from the overlying Black 

 Mould, +10 from the Stalagmitic Floor, +366 from the Black Bard, +238 

 from the Eed Cave-earth. 



Though the Committee have not on this occasion the pleasure of laying 

 before the Association any higlily-wrought flint implements, they have the 

 gratification of producing tools formed of another material, and of a kind not 

 previously found in the Cavern. Though it may be difiieult to understand it, 

 there is reason to believe that a few persons continue to be sceptical respecting 

 the artificial character of even the best unpolished flint implements found in 

 the Cavern or elsewhere. The Committee venture to entertain the opinion 

 that the evidence which the last twelve months have put into their possession 



